Prevent Defense

[Debi Keefe]

Has anyone else noticed that the two plays the Seahawks got burned on in the playoffs against Atlanta appeared to have been dropped back to a prevent defense? They were handling Atlanta and suddenly there was no one pressuring Ryan. Did coach switch to prevent defense on those last two plays? Just wondering if anyone else noticed.

 

[TheBandwagon]

Brock Huard had a good article on mynorthwest a while back critiquing those two plays. They actually ran five guys at Ryan vs five pass blockers and failed to get any pressure on Ryan, partially because of shoddy coverage. They even had 3 defenders vs 2 Falcon targets in the area of the first play so the coaching staff couldn't have drawn it up any better. I don't remember much about the 2nd play but the first one near the left sideline was made in front of Browner and Earl Thomas was 2-3 steps late on the help. It was a breakdown/failure on both fronts.
The lack of a pass rush hurt them but on the other hand because of the coverage, Ryan didn't have to hold the ball for long before chucking it to the open receiver.

The way I saw it, the only 'prevent' aspects was dropping all the LBs back into pass coverage and the DBs playing back rather than playing press/man. There was some 2nd guessing on that part too but they didn't want to risk giving up the home run shot, especially with guys like JJ and Roddy White who are definitely capable of pulling it off. Why gamble when you have the lead and the clock both heavily on your side? That was their thinking anyway.

 

[szat]

Exactly, bandwagon, they blitzed from the edges and dropped into cover 2 or 3.

What blew me away was they didnt put a hat on Tony Gonzalez. I mean he literly out slowed us on that play.

Its all water under the bridge now, but I gaurentee you Ol' Pete has watched that series a few dozen times, annalyzing it.

 

[Cmoney]

Yeah last year was last year.. the focus needs to be on this year..

 

[TheBandwagon]

Agreed. The focus is actually on this year. Water under the bridge and all that but part of focusing on this year is understanding what went wrong last year when it was all on the line, especially since we got most of the same cast coming back.

 

[szat]

I think the team exceeded everyones expectation last year even with loss in atl.
Russell Wilson just broke the NFL mold and that was amazing to follow and be a fan of!

 

[TheBandwagon]

I agree for the most part but expectations were changing on the fly and by the time the playoffs rolled around they had legit Super Bowl aspirations so in that sense they kinda fell short. A lot of people besides Seahawk fans were picking the Hawks to win that game in Atlanta and they no doubt should have. Ironically the defense played a huge role in the comeback from 27-7 down but it was the defense that choked it. Hate to have to put it that way but that's basically what they did.
The Niners probably had a slight edge and that's why they succeeded in the exact same type of game the following week where the Hawks failed but the games were so similar that if the Hawks had held on then anything could have happened in a matchup with the Niners. The difference was in the defensive play. Fortunately for the Niners, their defense buttoned it down earlier in the game than the Seahawks did, they only had to come back from 17 down instead of 20 with more time to catch up and so they carried a 4 point lead facing the Falcons' final possession whereas the Hawks were only up 1. Had the Niner lead been fewer than 4 then they too would have lost in exactly the same fashion the Hawks did.
Basically the point I'm making is that overall the season was a rousing success but their goal of winning it all became attainable and they failed at it, all because of those two plays. It's worth trying to get a handle on what went wrong because you know the old saying, those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

But as for exceeding expectations, in hindsight we should have seen it coming. The progress they made in '11, by the end of the season they were a playoff-caliber team with Tarvaris as the QB and getting better by the minute. Anything short of reaching the playoffs in '12 would have been a disappointment and a regression.

 

[szat]

As they say, hindsight is 20-20.
Its easy to say this and that about about the past, but who called in the beginning of the season?
0
Thats because no one saw it coming, no one.... Look at the mistake and learn for it, but but also find energy and build off the positives. That is the PC way, I read his book, its fairly elementry and rah rah, but you know what? Shit works.

Make no mistake about, next year the expectation should be SB but I really like the progression weve made.

 

[TheBandwagon]

Actually I saw it coming. Seer and I used to talk about it all the time. After the 2-6 start you had the 5-3 finish and very easily could have been a 6-2 finish if not for the OT loss in the desert to an equally hot Cards team the last game of the season. Since 6-2 of course projects to 12-4 over a whole season, then there you have it. And we're talking about one of the youngest teams in the league with some serious upside and they were playing at a playoff caliber level even with a subpar QB at the helm.
Of course, like everyone else I didn't see Russell Wilson coming but I did see a QB upgrade in the works so I fully expected they would be a playoff team in '12 going in with a shot at giving the Niners a run for the division title.
Call me crazy but when all is said and done, with the way Wilson was playing at the end, I think if anything they underachieved rather than overachieved.
I'll admit I have very high expectations for this team but I think it's warranted. It's got a shot at not just one but multiple titles if they play it right over the next few years. I think all Hawk fans should put the long history of futility aside and raise their expectations as well.

I agree with most of what you said though. I'm not in any way panning the Hawks for losing that game. Staying positive and putting what happened behind them is in order but they won't be able to do that until they take it a step further next season. Until then they will have that hanging on them.